Certain advantages of needle-free injection technologies have been recognized for some time. Some of the advantages of needle-free devices and methods include the absence of a needle which can intimidate a patient and which also presents a hazard to healthcare workers. In addition, injection using a needle may increase the risk of cross-contamination between patients. Furthermore, with an injection device that employs a needle there is substantial risk of needle breakage in the tissue of a human or animal patient. The injection jet generated by a needle-free device is generally smaller in diameter than a hypodermic needle and thus, in certain instances, a needle-free injection is less painful than an injection provided by a hypodermic needle device.
Because of these and other advantages of needle-free injection, many variations of pneumatic, electronic or spring activated needle-free injection devices have been designed to provide injections to patients. Most needle-free injection devices operate by driving the injectable fluid through a fine nozzle with a piston to create a fine but high pressure jet of fluid that penetrates the skin. The above advantages of needle-free injection technology are readily appreciated in a large-scale inoculation campaign. For example, limiting the fear many patients, particularly children, have of needles can increase the percentage of patient participation in large inoculation campaigns implemented in the poorer regions of the world.
Needle-free injection systems can, in certain instances, be implemented with a needle-free syringe which is filled from a vial or otherwise filled by a healthcare professional at or near the time of injection. The use of individually filled syringes however, can delay inoculation throughput or require increased labor to achieve a given number of inoculations in a specific time frame. Alternatively, injections can be administered by healthcare professional from a relatively large supply of remotely prefilled syringes. Typically, prefilling of a large quantity of syringes is accomplished utilizing an automated or semi-automated process.
Although a needle-free injection device can be designed to utilize either (or both) prefilled or individually filled needle-free syringes, it can be difficult to economically and accurately prepare a supply of prefilled needle-free syringe, particularly without contaminating the injection nozzle or the injectable contents during filling or transportation of the prefilled syringes to a treatment location.
The embodiments disclosed herein are directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.